Fifth Stage Spirit Sovereign
}} Spirit Sovereign (灵皇; Líng Huáng) is the fifth stage in cultivation. In ancient times, prior to the Ancient Antiquity Era, this stage was only known as the Gold Core Realm (金丹境界; Jīn Dān Jìngjiè), and it was considered as the threshold that would put one in contact with the Great Way. Only since the Ancient Antiquity Era this stage was known as the ‘Fifth Stage’. . After advancing to the Fifth Stage Realm, cultivators would condense a gold core in the dantian, building the foundation that would make them step on the Great Way. From this stage onward, a cultivator can also tread on the sky as if standing on a firm land. Terminology: Sovereign vs Emperor According to the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (三皇五帝; Sān Huáng Wǔ Dì), 皇 (Huáng) is translated as sovereign while 帝 (Dì) is translated as emperor. Moreover, 帝 is used distinctly in certain characters’ name or title such as Heavenly Emperor (天帝; Tiān Dì) and the Four Directional Great Emperors (四方大帝; Sì Fāng Dà Dì). Position in Cultivation World Fourth to Fifth Tribulation Second Heavenly Moat Fifth Stage is widely known to be the second Heavenly Moat in cultivation. Many cultivators purposely stayed in Fourth Stage Inborn in order to ensure the maximum number of dragon marks possible. After all, when condensing the Gold Core, there was no room for regret. After all, once the Gold Core was formed, the number of dragon marks on it would forever stay the same... and the number of the dragon marks was closely related to the future of the cultivator. Using 100 years from the Fourth Stage to Fifth Stage is considered as fast and can be considered as genius speed. This speed was used by the Demons of the Nine Serenities to entice Beast Realm’s cultivators to degenerate into demons. Modernised Tribulation The modernised tribulation for the Fifth Stage was speculated to be an army of elite soldiers. The soldiers would probably use things like guns, landmines, and RPGs. Minor Realms Fifth Stage Spirit Sovereign is divided into three minor realms. # Solid Gold Core # Purple Gold Core # Glazed Gold Core However, those with super ultra-high grade gold core will skip the the second and third minor realms. Their gold core will start spurting living spring water until it became a spirit lake. Solid Gold Core Solid Gold Core (实金丹; shí jīn dān) minor realm is the formation of the gold core from Fourth Stage’s Void Core. A normal gold core is four times the size of a normal void core. Spirit Power After the formation of the Gold Core, the true qi (真气; zhēn qì) inside a practitioner’s body would change into spirit power (灵力; líng lì). Although spirit power and true qi stemmed from the same root, but spirit power held an overwhelming advantage over true qi. If the two type of energies were compared, it would be like comparing a sword made of wood to a sharp sword made iron. Grades of Gold Core Each Gold Core has a certain number of dragon marks. Normally speaking, the lowest number was one and the highest was nine dragon marks. The Gold Core Realm was divided into low, medium and high grades, based on the numbers of dragon marks. The higher the number of dragon marks, the higher the rank of the Gold Core. And the more dragon marks one had, the further would they be able to walk on the path of cultivation. Purple Gold Core In this Purple Gold Core (紫金丹; zǐ jīn dān) minor realm, the practitioner will start the Gold Core Composition (金丹构图; jīn dān gòutú), where the gold core will be the canvas, while the dragon marks will be the ‘pigment’ or ‘ink’. The drawing will be drawn without regret, which means it can’t be erased. Therefore, a practitioner must think and plan really carefully before starting to draw. Usually a drawing is based on the practitioner’s experience, or aspiration in cultivating. The more complex a drawing is, will represent the path is further than a less complicated drawing. After finishing the ‘Gold Core Composition’, the ‘Solid Gold Core’ inside one’s body would be further polished, becoming even sturdier. At that point, the colour of the Gold Core would also change, becoming purple gold. This stage was known as the second minor realm of the Fifth Stage—the Purple Gold Core realm. Glazed Gold Core The final and the most critical step, Completion of Gold Core Drawing or the final stroke of the brush on the Gold Core Composition. This step could take hundreds of years and only come for a short time. Miss that chance, the cultivator might need to wait for another hundreds of years for another chance to come, that if he is lucky. There is a possibility the chance won’t come again for the rest of his life. A lot of cultivators would get stuck when they had to add the finishing touch to the composition on their Gold Core. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to draw, the problem was that they didn’t know where to start. They lacked that final piece of inspiration and enlightenment to complete the work. Moreover, 50% of Fifth Stage cultivators unable to be promoted, stuck on Gold Core Composition’s final stroke. Upon completion of the drawing, the Purple Gold Core will change into Glazed Gold Core (琉璃金丹; liúlí jīn dān). Once a cultivator entered this minor realm, he must start preparing to transcend the Fifth Promotes Sixth Heavenly Tribulation. A lot of Fifth Stage Spirit Sovereigns that didn’t have a sufficient number of dragon patterns on their Gold Cores would be stranded in the Glazed Gold Core realm for all their lives, unable to advance even a little bit. Monster Core Monster core (妖丹; yāo dān) are cores condensed by monster cultivators. Instead of dragon marks to denote their quality, monster core have colours on it, the more the better. Monster core have the same stages as gold core. Monster core can be ‘spitted out’ as an attack method. Ancient Witch Blood Ancient witches will condense Witch blood (巫血; wū xuè) instead of Gold Core during the Fifth Stage. Celestials Celestials are unable to condense gold core or any of its equivalent when they are promoted to Fifth Stage. Due to this, they developed an obsession to hunt Fifth Stage cultivators and collect their cores as trophies. Special Abilities Transformation Upon successfully becoming a Fifth Stage, monster cultivators will have a chance to transform their physical bodies into any form of their own choosing. This chance can be used only once. Walk on the Sky Fifth Stage cultivators can walk on the sky as if the sky is a solid ground. Category:Cultivation